UMBC Gender and Women's Studies Students Write Back

Mannequin Merkins

American Apparel has decided to make it’s mannequins a bit more realistic with the addition of

pubic hair! The modern mysoginist’s biggest fear has come alive: not only do real (and by real, I simply mean living and breathing) women naturally grow pubic hair but now the mannequins that “show us” how to dress can sport big bushes, too. Many of the articles published, such as this one, contain comments such as the ever-creative, “That’s disgusting!” With some defending the idea, but citing that the bush still “needs to be trimmed” and the all-out pube radicals who think that women should be able to grow a bush like a jungle is she so chooses (woo!)

But why are people so afraid of a little hair down there? No one seems to be in a panic because the mannequins also have real nipples (which most mannequins do not have.) Is it that unsightly for a store mannequin to have hair on their pubic region? I mean honestly, when you look at these images below ask yourself if it turns you off just a little bit:

A few decades ago, pubic hair was all the rage. Even magazines that typically objectify women, such as Playboy, featured models with larger-than-life bushes (I would include a link but I’m going to avoid putting porn on my blog. Feel free to Google it yourself, though!) So what happened?

The media got ahold of waxing and shaving trends and decided to tell women, as they always do, to follow those trends to determine what they should look like. Have you seen the new Veet “Don’t Risk Dudeness” ads? By doing so, they tell men and other women to judge how they look based on something as personal as the hair that grows around their vaginas. These ads tell women they are not really women if they don’t keep up with body hair removal norms. There is nothing wrong with shaving/waxing/hair removing if a woman so chooses but no one should feel self-conscious in front of their partner or friends and family, or when walking on the beach in a bikini, because they haven’t kept up with the normative body hair regimen. I have had my own family members call me out for not shaving my legs for a few days. The same goes for shaving ones’ underarms, face, etc. It’s so easy, and so common, to forget that what the media dictates we do is completely made up. Whether a person chooses to shave or not is an arbitrary beauty standard that makes “personal care” companies millions of dollars every year. That’s it. So, although American Apparel does not have the greatest track record when it comes to being any kind of feminist or humanitarian organization (see here) this is one scandal they should be proud of. But please clean up your act, otherwise, American Apparel.